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What a month it has been! From the leadership announcement to Party conference and to our new autumn campaign, it’s been a busy and exciting month.

Leadership Election

Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected as Leader of the Labour Party with 61.8% of the vote. Jeremy has called on all of us to unite and campaign against the regressive Tory plan for new grammar schools (see more below) and we look forward to seeing many of you on the doorstep in coming weeks.

Party conference

It was great to see so many South West visitors and delegates at Annual Conference which took place in Liverpool this year. South West highlights included excellent speeches from Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, highlighting the work Labour has done in Bristol; a great speech from Jack Wilfan – our 15 year old delegate from Weston-super-Mare; excellent contributions to the SERA event from Tudor Evans and Kerry McCarthy; and a fringe event hosted by Darren Jones featuring speeches from Thangam Debbonaire and many others on the future of the digital economy.

#NoMoreGrammars

At Party Conference Jeremy Corbyn and Angela Rayner launched the #NoMoreGrammars campaign against the Tory plan to reintroduce Grammar Schools. Local parties including Bournemouth, Bristol, Plymouth, South Swindon, Truro and Falmouth, St Ives, West Dorset, Weston-Super-Mare, North Cornwall, Stroud, Kingswood and many more were out in force on Saturday campaigning against this regressive move. It was great to see so many local members out on the streets making the case for Education Not Segregation. We look forward to seeing you at lots more events over the Autumn!

Cornwall residents earn £100 a year from Britain’s membership of the European Union

New data shows that every person living in Cornwall gains a net benefit of (on average) £100 a year from Britain’s membership of the European Union.

This benefit is based on various subsidies that Cornwall receives, such as support for farming and agriculture, assistance for structural developments and for fisheries. The vast majority of farms in Cornwall are in receipt of some sort of EU funding.

Many more local projects in Cornwall have also benefited from money from the European Union. Over 30,000 jobs have been either created or protected by millions of pounds of investment in Cornish businesses. Cornwall also has the fastest rural broadband in Europe which is not as a result of government funding, but from help from the EU.

The EU also helps smaller community organisations with funding. The Pool, Penzance, is currently bidding for funds from the European Regional Development Fund to help heat part of the swimming pool.

Cornwall residents earn £100 a year from Britain’s membership of the European Union

30% of people living in Bristol are waiting over a week to get a GP appointment

New data shows that over 30% of people living in NHS Bristol CCG area are waiting over a week to see their GP when trying to book an appointment.

Marvin Rees, Labour’s candidate for Bristol Mayor, said:

“This issue is causing real problems in Bristol and means that nearly a third of people cannot see their GP when they need to. I want to see Bristol’s Mayor standing up and fighting the government on their failure to provide for our health service.

“If I am elected I will support our NHS; I will fight for more hospital beds, strengthen Bristol’s mental health services and provide more training for dementia carers to make our city dementia friendly. I will also return the post of Director of Public Health to the most senior level in the city council and work with health organisations to appoint a city health commissioner.”

This will ease the pressure on our GPs who are facing major budget cuts and an ever deepening NHS crisis.”

Heidi Alexander MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, said:

“More than five years of David Cameron’s government has left the NHS in meltdown and GP services in crisis.

“Millions of patients across the country are struggling to see their family doctor and cuts to funding mean this situation is likely to get worse, not better.

“David Cameron talks about a seven-day NHS, but the reality is he is failing to deliver a five-day NHS and patient care is suffering as a result.

“The Tories need to start taking some responsibility for this situation. Rather than standing by and doing nothing, we need to see proper plan for improving the NHS and ensuring patients get the care they need, when they need it.”